She Will Love You Through All The Lies

"Ready?" Jimmy asked, as Kate waited on the front step while he locked his front door.

Kate nodded her head as she played with the hem of her shirt. She felt Jimmy take her left hand into his right hand and then began to lead them to their vehicles.

"Do you want to take one car or just take both of them?"

Kate looked up at Jimmy and bit her lip, "can we take both so we can make less trips?"

Jimmy nodded and kissed the top of her head, "of course. I'll be right behind you," he squeezed her hand once more before he took a few steps towards his car and unlocked the drivers door. He watched Kate take a deep breath and then slip inside of her own car.

Kate found that her eyes would dart away from the road and to the rear-view mirror every few minutes to make sure Jimmy was still behind her. She knew she was being ridiculous, but since everything went downhill with Brian she was beginning to feel more paranoid about things. Being alone was something she didn't want right now.

As she pulled into her driveway she noted that everything from the outside still looked identical to how she had left it a week ago. Her heartbeat began to increase as she stopped the car and cut the ignition. She looked again in her rear-view mirror to see where Jimmy was and felt her muscles loosen slightly as Jimmy turned off his own car and then stepped outside.

Kate opened her car door, climbed out and then slammed it shut, taking a deep breath before looking at Jimmy who was loyally at her left side. "Ready?" he asked, looking down at her as he wrapped his right arm around her shoulders.

"As I'll ever be," she sighed, taking the first step towards the front door. She slid her key into the deadbolt lock and turned it clockwise until she heard it unlock. She relaxed her shoulders and pushed the door open with her left arm.

She froze in the doorway. Her heart began to beat quicker than ever before. Her breathing became shallow as she began to feel extremely light-headed. "Kate? Kate, are you okay?" She heard Jimmy's voice break through what felt like an anxiety attack. She shook her head and then suddenly she was in the air, pressed against Jimmy's chest.

Jimmy carried Kate through the front foyer and through the house. He held her body close to his chest bridal-style until they reached the couch and then gently laid her down before backtracking to the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and brought it back to her. He unscrewed the cap and handed her the bottle, "here, drink some water."

Kate took the bottle in her hands and brought it to her lips. She swallowed the cold water and instantly started to feel more like herself. When the liquid was gone Jimmy took the bottle from her hands and set it on the coffee table next to his lap.

He sat across from her, their knees touching, taking in her appearance to make sure she was okay. He had never seen Kate act like that in all of the years he had known her, and frankly, it scared the hell right out of him. The attack was so completely out-of-character for her, that it deeply worried him.

"Are you going to be okay?" Jimmy asked, leaning forward and looking Kate in the eyes.

She softly nodded her head. "I think I'll be okay Jimmy, thank-you."

He nodded his head and kept quiet for a few moments. "Where do you want to start?"

He watched as Kate absent-mindly bit her lip and looked around the open space of the living room. "I suppose the bedroom would be the best place to start."

Jimmy stood up from his sitting position on the coffee table and stuck out his hand for Kate. She placed her hand in his and felt him pull her up from the couch with ease. Jimmy set his hand that he used to help her up from the couch on the small of her back and gently coaxed her towards the master bedroom.

"Do you have an boxes?" Jimmy asked, once they were in the bedroom.

Kate nodded, "there's a bunch in the garage."

"I'll go get them, you just get started in here, okay?" Jimmy watched as Kate nodded again and walked towards the closet before he left and made his way towards the garage.

Kate pulled the closet door open to reveal the side with all of her clothes. She began pulling all of her shirts out, carelessly. Some came with hangers, others fell off with ease. She just wanted all of this done and over with.

Kate turned to look at the doorway when she heard footsteps approaching. She froze with her hands on the next punch of hangers and kept her eyes trained on the doorway. When she noticed that it was only Jimmy she sighed and pulled out the clothes that her hands were on.

Jimmy picked up the clothes that were on the bed and began putting them in one of the boxes as Kate pulled out the remaining clothing from the closet before walking to the dresser behind him. She pulled the drawer out completely and brought it to a box before dumping all the contents into the box.

"What's wrong?"

Kate looked up and let out a small laugh, "just trying to decide if I should put the drawer back or leave it out and just create a huge mess for him to clean up." Leaving a mess for Brian to clean up seemed like a great idea, just like he always left a mess for her to clean up, like herself.

Jimmy took the drawer from her hands and tossed it on the ground away from the dresser and smiled a lopsided grin. He picked up a few of the boxes that were full and moved to the doorway, "I'm going to take these out to the cars, I'll be back in a minute."

Kate picked up a smaller box and brought it to their adjoining-bathroom and went through the cupboards and shelves, grabbing everything that was hers and tossing it into the box. She walked back into the bedroom and tossed all of her personal belongings into the same box until nothing in the room fully belonged to her.

She made her way through the house and towards the front door. She opened the door and stepped outside into the Huntington Beach heat and paused for a moment, feeling the sun upon her skin. She opened her eyes again and made her way towards the open trunk of Jimmy's car.

"Can this fit?" she asked, as she turned to face him and the rear end of the car.

"Sure can," he reached out and took the box from her before placing it in an empty spot. He closed the trunk and smiled down at Kate before they began back towards the house.

"What now?" Jimmy asked as he closed the door behind him.

"Good question," Kate mumbled. "I guess I can work on the living room. There's boxes in the garage on the shelf that have my name on them. I can give you the keys to my car if you wouldn't mind putting them in the trunk?"

"No problem," Jimmy held his hand out for the keys before he turned around and opened the door. "Are you okay for boxes or should I grab more?"

Kate looked in the hallway and shook her head, "no, I'm fine. There's not much left between the living room and the kitchen that I want to take."

Once Jimmy left the foyer, Kate walked to the boxes that were stocked up in the hallway outside of her bedroom door. She picked them up and walked into the living room and dropped them down by the DVD and CD towers. She went through all the towers and grabbed anything that was rightfully hers and placed into the boxes set beside her right leg.

Kate found as she went through everything in the kitchen, that all she wanted was her white mug that she used every morning. She didn't find any dishes, pots or silverware that meant anything special to her that she found necessary to pack.

She made one final walk around in the house to make sure she had everything of hers. In the closet located at the end of the hallway she found a few blankets that were made by her grandmother. She pulled them down from the shelf and sat them on boxes that were stacked in the living room.

She made sure to check the laundry room and the spare bedroom, finding nothing of hers in the progress, before she picked up one of the boxes and her blankets and began to walk towards the front door.

She walked towards her car only to be met by Jimmy. He turned to look at her and grabbed the box and blankets from her arms. "I have everything from the garage with your name on it in both of the cars. Is there a lot still in the house?"

She shook her head, "a few last boxes and that's it."

Jimmy held out his arms for her as she took a step towards him. He enclosed her in his embrace and rubbed her back as he held her tight to his chest. "How are you holding up?" he asked gently.

He felt her shrug in response before sniffling. "I just never thought it would end like this..."

He kissed the top of her head, "I know Katie, and it shouldn't have. You didn't do anything to deserve this, okay?" He pulled Kate away from him for a second to meet her eyes. She smiled and nodded before he pulled her back into his arms.

"Oh God..."

Kate pulled away, "what's wro-, you've got to be kidding me."

Jimmy looked frantically between Kate and the end of the driveway. "What do you want to do?"

"I have to face him sooner or later, I should just do it now and get it done and over with." Kate replied, as she stared at Brian's car that was idling.

"I'll go grab the boxes from the living room," he paused, "I'll wait in my car until you're ready to leave."

Kate nodded her head, "thanks Jimmy. You're a great friend," she patted his chest gently before he breezed past her and into the house, leaving her alone.

She felt her foot begin to tap as she waited impatiently for Brian to slip out of his car, but it felt like time was dragging on for far too long. Finally, she heard his door open and close shortly after.

"Kate," his voice sounded so soft and torn as he approacher her. She straightened up so she wasn't slouching anymore and looked him straight in the eyes. She was going to stay strong this time, she wasn't going to get sucked back in, not again.

"What- what are you doing? Why is Jimmy here?" He stumbled over his words, looking all around them.

"Isn't it obvious Brian!" Kate's voice came out a lot more harsh then she had intended, but she was so fed up with him.

Brian was quiet for a few minutes before he spoke up again. "Can we talk about," he gestured back and forth between the both of them with his hands, -his car keys still in his right hand made jingling noises- "what's going on?"

"We're talking right now Brian, this is as good as its going to get."

Brian let out a deep sigh, "why is Jimmy here?"

"He's helping me move boxes," Kate answered truthfully.

"He's helping you move boxes," it wasn't a question. He let out a bitter laugh and brought his hand to his forehead for a second before shaking his head and turning to the left. It was quiet for a moment before he looked back to Kate. "My best-friend in the whole God-damn world is helping my wife move out of our house. That's fucking fantastic."

"Yea, well, you brought it upon yourself Brian, so don't act like this is coming out of nowhere." Kate crossed her arms across her chest and took a small step backwards.

Brian looked back at Kate, his eyes wide, "how did I bring this upon myself!"

"Oh, don't act like you don't know how you've been the past few years Brian! This has gone on for far too long," she flung her hands into the air, completely irritated at how oblivious Brian was being.

"How I've been acting!? Are you being fucking serious right now Kate?" Brian yelled, taking a step towards her.

"No, Brian, this is all just some big joke." She rolled her eyes, "fucking open your eyes, and stop being so clueless. I'm tired of your shit."

Brian took a few steps away from her and turned to face the road with his hand on his forehead. He began taking deep breaths to calm himself down. He absolutely hated yelling at Kate, but nothing was making any sense to him.

Kate turned to look at the door as Jimmy walked out with two boxes stacked up in his arms. He raised his eyebrow and nodded towards Brian. Kate shook her head and shrugged her shoulders in response as Jimmy made his way towards her and placed the boxes in her backseat.

He took one final look at Brian before giving Kate a sympathetic smile and disappearing back into the house, leaving Kate alone with Brian once again.

When Kate looked back from the doorway Brian was facing her and took a few steps towards her. "I'm sorry," he apologized.

She raised her eyebrows and shook her head, looking away from him again. She leaned back against her car and stared at the siding of the house. "For what?"

Brian moved to stand in front of her, blocking where she had kept her eyes locked on the house. "For yelling at you, I hate it."

"Yea, well its not the worst thing you've done." Kate retorted, locking her eyes with his as the bitterness of her voice stung Brian visibly.

She watched as he sighed and looked to the ground. She didn't like that he was only a foot away from her. She just wanted to jump right into her car and take off, but she refused to run away from her problems.

"Where are you going?" his head was still bowed down, refusing to make eye-contact.

"I'm staying with Jimmy for a little while."

His head shot up, "what the fuck Kate!"

She raised her hands and set them on his shoulders, pushing him away from her. "Don't you dare yell in my face again," she spoke firmly. "I was going to leave town, hell, I still want to, but he convinced me to stay with him. Its better then staying here."

Pain shot across Brian's face, "I get that you're pissed at me... but why do you have to go and stay with my best-friend?"

"If you don't remember Brian, Jimmy was one of my best-friends before you and I started to date, before we even met."

"Why can't you stay at Tara's?"

"I'm not going to invade their space, Brian. Everything is just going to work out better if I'm at Jimmy's."

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, leaving them in an unbearable silence until Jimmy walked out the front door with the last box. He froze mid-step and glanced back and forth between them. "Its okay Jimmy," Kate smiled towards him. He smiled back and walked to his car. He pulled open the back left door and put the box in the backseat before closing the door and sliding into the driver's seat.

"What made you leave me?"

Kate looked away from Jimmy and to Brian. He was already looking at her, waiting for her to answer his question that he never thought he'd ever have to ask her.

She wanted to be hateful and say, 'what didn't?' but that was a lie. Through all the dark spots there was good, lots of good, but not enough to keep her there with him. "The last few days before I left were really the cherry on the top," she answered. "You promised me you were going to change and make things better between us. All I ever did was stick around, waiting for you, loving you, loving the idea of us. But all I got in return was a big 'fuck-you' Brian.'

"Can we-,"

"No, Brian, we can't. You had your last chance, and you threw it away. I thought you would've realized that when I found you at Heather's after you just fucking disappeared for a few days. Thanks for the warning!"

"Kate, its not what you think," he insisted.

"I don't care," she took one last deep sigh. "I'm sorry, but I just don't care anymore."

"How can you say that after all these years?"

"How can you run off on me and act like you're so free and have no responsibilities? Well you got your wish, you're a free man now, you can run the streets and gallivant around whenever you want, I don't give a shit."

"That's not what I want!"

"You could've fooled me! You're so lucky we don't have kids, I would've done this years ago."

"Don't say that, please don't say that." Brian pleaded.

Kate turned away from Brian and opened the driver side door of her car. The keys were already in the ignition from when Jimmy loaded her car. Just as she was about to slide in Brian gently grabbed her arm. "What do you think went on at Heather's?"

"I have no idea, but it would've been nice to know where you were laying your head at for two nights instead of worrying about you and calling everyone I knew."

"Nothing went on between us, I promise." Kate had her head tilted to the side, not looking Brian in the eye. She just wanted to drive away from him.

"Okay," she replied, trying to pull away from him.

"Kate, look at me, please!" he begged.

She turned her face and looked him squarely in the eyes.

"Kate, I wasn't cheating on you."

She read him like an open book, and knew that he was not saying a word of a lie. There was no way he could lie to her as he looked her in the eyes. He never has been able to.

Kate pulled her arm from his grasp and looked into his eyes once more, "I know Brian, but I'm tired of you breaking my heart."

Kate slid into her car and closed the door behind her before starting up her car. She pulled her seat-belt on and pulled out of the driveway after Jimmy. She took a deep breath and looked at Brian once more as he stood in the same spot, staring at where she used to stand before him, and then put her car in drive and her foot on the gas peddle.